about
Pınar Balat (Ankara, 1986) is an Amsterdam-based architect, urbanist and researcher. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from METU (Ankara), a Master of Advanced Studies degree in Collective Housing from UPM (Madrid) and a Master of Science degree in Architecture from TUDelft. Pınar is the founding partner of Foreign House, an urban strategy agency dedicated to advancing spatial justice in cities.
work
In the past years Pınar worked for various urban design offices in the Netherlands on projects of housing, neighbourhood scale urban planning and inner-city transformations. Parallelly, as Studio Pınar Balat, she led design-based research projects, focusing on contributing to just urban environments, through strategies that simultaneously address socio-economic and ecological challenges in cities.
In 2025, Pınar co-founded Foreign House, and together with Igor Sladoljev, she works on spatial prototypes, participatory methods and civic instruments that connect theory with practice, opening new ways of imagining and inhabiting the just city.
news
Pınar believes in working towards an urban practice where justice is one of the principal consideration criteria for design and decision-making. She therefore finds it important to explore and have a conversation on how we can pursue fair design solutions, impactful strategies and democratic processes in urban development projects. She regularly takes part in debates concerning the future of urban areas in the Netherlands, by giving keynotes, contributing to panel discussions and workshops.
Find out the latest news on Pınar’s work.
